[btilly]

In that case the tech companies are hardly at fault for California law.

Push comes to shove they don't generally assert their theoretical rights too aggressively in my experience. However their lawyers don't want to abandon any rights that they have without examining them on a case by case basis. The ones that I have see balance that out pretty well and do have a release process where they approve personal projects.

If that balance doesn't appeal to you, then you can solve the problem by working for a smaller company where it is less of an issue.